I believe that a similar change of perspective can be found when we look below the surface, and upwards from the deep. Diving into the ocean and exploring its depths, descending through its layers of deepening blue, is always a life-affirming experience.

At the Great Blue Hole in Belize, noises fade as you enter the vast system of caves formed some 153,000 years ago – a time when sea levels were far lower. It is a powerful reminder of how dramatically, and how profoundly, our planet can change.

Swimming alongside whale sharks brings the same clarity. You are no longer the centre of the story, but a guest in an extraordinary, living system.

Exploration has always driven me. I’ve travelled across the ocean, through the skies and to space, and found a simple truth: we protect what we understand, and we understand what we experience.

If more of us could experience the ocean as a living world, we might act with the urgency it demands – because we are not separate from nature, we are part of it.